The Earth Story

Pamukkale, Cotton Castle

Located in southwestern Turkey, the hot springs of Pamukkale are a marvel of nature and are now a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. The springs form a series of white limestone cascades that carpet the slope of the River Menderes valley.

Pamukkale means ‘Cotton Castle’ in Turkish. It lies in a fault zone, where two plates of the Earth’s crust meet. Tectonic movements in the area often cause earthquakes. They are also responsible for the creation of countless hot springs. The waters of Pamukkale hot springs are loaded with calcium and dissolved carbon dioxide, and these combine to form crystals of calcite, which precipitate out. Over time these crystals have built up to form limestone sheets. In some places these sheets appear to flow down the slope torrents, like rivers of frozen water. In others, the crystals have created forests of calcite stalactites and flooded terraces connected by spectacular limestone waterfalls.

The waters of Pamukkale’s hot springs gush out of the ground at a rate of 240 litres per second and have a temperature of 35˚C (95˚F). They are rich in dissolved calcium and carbon dioxide and contain very few impurities. As they cool, the calcite that precipitates out of them is dazzling white. Beneath the top layer of calcite visible are other, more ochre-coloured layers. These were laid down in the past when the spring waters were not pure. 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from Pamukkale is Karahayit, which also has hot springs. Here, the water emerges at 38˚C and is loaded with iron, resulting in the formation of red limestone.

~ JM

Image Credit: http://bit.ly/1xJ6BTE

More Info: Pamukkale: http://bit.ly/1OKjHFm

Pamukkale Water Terraces: http://bit.ly/1BENndX

Soothing waters of Pamukkale: http://wxch.nl/1HULAss

This is Mount Roraima in the Pacaraima Mountains. It lies on the border of three Countries; Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. It is part of Venezuela’s Canaima National Park which is also home to the beautiful Angel Falls and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Mount Roraima’s flat surface is surrounded by 400 metre high sheer cliff faces andits highest point is is Maverick Rock at 2,810 meters.

Im many photos and satellite imagery, Mount Roraima is surrounded or engulfed by clouds. This is because the area is surrounded by thick rainforest. Tropical heat causes the moisture from the rainforest to rise and condense over and around the mountain as heavy clouds. As a result, Mount Roraima is almost always in clouds and it rains nearly every day.

-Jean

For more photos see: http://beautifulplacestovisit.com/mountains/mount-roraima-venezuela/

Photo courtesy of: Uwe George, National Geographic Society

Konark Sun Temple, Odisha

King Narasimha Deva built the Konark Sun Temple during 1250 A.D. and dedicated to Sun God, Surya. According to Hindu mythology, Surya is considered as prime source of life giving energy and healer of diseases. The temple is situated 65 kms from the city of Bhubaneswar, India.

The temple was designed as a giant chariot, with 12 pairs of wheels being driven by seven horses, all carved out of stone. The seven horses symbolise seven days of a week. The 24 giant wheels have intricate design patterns, and the spokes acts as a sundial, accurately measuring time. The temple is aligned east-west and marks the journey of Sun across the sky.

The three main areas of the temple are the inner sanctum, the outer porch (jagamohana), and the dancing hall (nata mandapa). The temple is a fine piece of Kalinga architecture of that era with beautiful statues and intricate stone carvings all around.

The temple is made of black sandstone and was also called the Black Pagoda by European travellers. The image of the Sun God made from high quality chlorite stone is a masterpiece work of art, and is placed beyond the porch in the inner sanctum. The exquisite design of the temple, marvellous stone sculptures of gods and figures in erotic poses, animals and other details reflects the depth of craftsmanship of the people of that period.

Besides stones, there is iron plating between every two stone blocks. A giant magnet weighing 52 tonnes was planted at the top of the temple, and other smaller magnets were arranged around the lower columns. Local legends say that arrangements of the main magnet and the other magnets used to make the idol of Sun God float in mid air. The invaders descreated the temple during Muslim rule, and the ravaging effects of sand and sea, also resulted in the destruction of many parts of the temple to a great extent, ruining beautiful statues and sculptures.

The magnets had a very disruptive effect on the ships compasses and lead to the destruction of many ships. British later on, removed the magnets during excavation of the temple. At present the temple is preserved as UNESCO World Heritage site.

[Source: http://bit.ly/1C9yJPA

http://bit.ly/18OSRuT]

[Video source: http://bit.ly/1EDiNES]

[Image source: www.travel.india.com]

--RB.

Kissing rocks These rocks are found within Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site based on its unique geology. Ha Long Bay is a spectacular example of a karst landscape formed by the erosion of limestone. When exposed to rainwater limestone begins dissolving, and dissolution of limestone at one spot causes continued erosion to concentrate at that same spot. These processes start off by forming caves and can evolve into complex structures of pillars of limestone that stand high above lower surfaces where the water used to be. Ha Long Bay consists of over 1600 of limestone islands and pillars, including these two nicknamed the kissing rocks or the kissing cocks. They are the remnants of hundreds of millions of years of geologic processes; thick sequences of limestones deposited over 300 million years ago, uplift of those surfaces above water, and over 20 million years of slow erosion of the rocks. Today the ocean helps eat into the rocks. The ocean level has been mostly steady in this area for several thousand years and the interaction of the ocean with the rocks has created a growing notch at the base (often with the help of some organisms in these parts of the Pacific). If the ocean stayed at that level it would eventually eat away at the pillars, but a trend of rising sea levels over the next few hundred years may well move the ocean waters above that level, possibly even starting the formation of a new notch.  -JBB Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hạ_Long_Bay#mediaviewer/File:Ha_Long_bay_The_Kissing_Rocks.jpg Read more: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/672 http://www.halongbay.info/news/the-geological-formation-of-halong-bay.html

Stranded Whales In the Wadi al-Hitan, deep in the deserts of Egypt a strange sight can be found. The bones of hundreds of long dead whales can be found simply lying in the sand. Such is the uniqueness of this location that it has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site. But the question remains of how these ocean-going creatures ended up so far inland. While some might suggest some kind of cataclysmic event washed these whales far from their home, leaving them to die under the desert sun, a closer examination of the bones reveals the answer. These whales belong to a long extinct group of Cetacean’s known as the Archaeocetidae. Wadi al-Hitan (Arabic for ‘Valley of the Whales’) was discovered in 1902 though its remoteness has ensured that detailed study of the area did not begin until the 1980’s, when four-wheeled drive became more common. It was at that point that the site became truly recognised as one of the highest quality locations to study the marine life of the Late Eocene (~48 Ma). The value of Wadi al-Hitan lies in the many remarkably complete specimens that can be found there. Exposed by the desert winds, whale skeletons can be found in the hundred’s in various states of completeness. The most common whales to be found at the site are Basilosaurus and Dorudon, both of which were made famous in the BBC series ‘Walking with Beasts’. Though similar in many respects to modern whales, a few key differences mark them out as being more primitive than their living relatives. Both Dorudon and Basilosaurus possess vestigial rear limbs, remnants of their ancestor’s life on land. In addition, neither whale species had yet to develop the distinctive ‘melon organ’ which allows modern Cetaceans to echolocate (the use of sound to 'see' the environment). The bodies of these animals were also notably more snake-like in nature than modern Cetaceans, possessing a much longer tail with reduced tail flukes. It is this serpentine form that led to the unusual naming of Basilosaurus. Richard Harlan named the animal based upon the vertebrae, which he believed to be equivalent to those of the dinosaurs known at the time. As such, he named the creature Basilosaurus, or ‘king lizard’. Though it was later discovered to be a mammal, and attempts were made to rename it to Zeuglodon, the name Basilosaurus had precedence and has remained the animal’s scientific name. - Dale Image Credit - http://ploetzgen.wordpress.com/tag/wadi-al-hitan/ Read More - http://ploetzgen.wordpress.com/tag/wadi-al-hitan/ - http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evograms_03 - http://bit.ly/1BCCw5i - http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/palaeofiles/whales/archaeoceti.htm

The three worlds at Alta From about 4000 BC the smooth cliffs around the Alta Fjord in Northern Norway were the setting of petroglyphs carved by hunter-gatherers living in this area. The petroglyphs (6000 in total) have a great variety in subject and are of special interest because the numerous native animals that are depicted. There are hardly any ethno historical sources about these prehistoric carvings and this makes it hard to discover their background and true meaning. Many scholars have argued that the Alta petroglyphs could be the first signs of a Nordic religion in the area. Around 500 BC the last carvings were made at Alta. Most commonly depicted are elk (different from the North American elk, the European elk is actually a moose). Furthermore other native animals as bear, reindeer and wolf are depicted as well as human scenes and boats. Most carvings have a storytelling theme. As the image shows red colorants were used for relief. Scholars have claimed that the location of the petroglyphs on steep cliffs near the sea could represents the Old Nordic belief in a world is divided in three parts; the sky being the upper world, the earth being the middle and the water being the lowest world. The location of the carvings at the shore could mark a contact zone between these worlds and the depicted animals could then be seen as vessels for travelling to the under and the upper world. . So how is the rock art dated? After the last Ice age on the Scandinavian mainland, new land was exposed and smoothed cliffs appeared along the Norwegian coast. The land started to rise due to loss of pressure from the weight of the former ice, and these cliffs were lifted above sea level. From about 6000 to 7000 years ago nothing happened in relation to the sea and the land and the sea eroded the same cliffs for a long period. The rock carvings were made after this erosion so they cannot be much older than 6000 years. This dating method showed that the oldest carvings are found on higher altitudes whilst the cliffs that were coming out of the sea were used for new carvings. In 1985 the site of Alta was placed on the UNESCO world Heritage list. --BO Image: Karl Brodowsky. A carving of a group of elk at Alta. References: Shetelig Haakon & Falk Hjalmar, Scandinavian Archaeology, The Art of the Arctic Stone Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937. http://www.alta.museum.no/sider/tekst.asp?side=22&meny=ROCK+ART http://www.verdensarvenialta.no/english/container3.htm